hubbabubba

The Maxima survived last summer even though on some hot days the temperature gauge would move up towards H. Since last summer, there haven't been any issues at all (movement on the temperature gauge) until this past Sunday when it reached 90 in NYC, and the temperature gauge moved to H again.

Since Sunday, no instances of movement on the gauge. Drove today for nearly 1.5 hours in 65 degrees and no movement at all on the gauge, it stayed normal as it usually does.

Any ideas to what it could be? Is it a thermostat issue or something else?

Hoping to get to 20 years with your help!!

Thanks so much in advance!!

Child_uv_KoRn

iTrader: (7)

failing fan(s) and AC makes it worse. See if the fans are spinning on high with AC on. I'm gonna bet no. When the first one goes, it's not noticeable at all until pretty hot. They can also spin slow masking the problem.

Keep in mind that the gauge is a dummy. Once it moves at all that means it's overheating and you absolutely should not drive it. Heads are usually warped by the time you get close to H.

JSutter

iTrader: (46)

Got any proof on that? My old 03 was driven with no coolant until it died, twice. Once the leak was fixed and coolant added there were no issues. I believe 3.5 throttle by wire is smart enough to shut the car down before catastrophic overheating happens.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

i had some over heating issues in 2017 , and the car over heated and started loosing power and I had to pull over (one of the only times the maxima made me pull over in 15 years of ownership). My coolant kept boiling over, and i ended up waiting 15 mins, driving 3-5 miles till i got close to over heating, pulled over waited 15 mins, drove 3-5 miles till i got close to over heating and luckily found a corner gas station with antifreeze to fill up all the fluid I was boiling, and then waited drove 3-5 miles, and repeated that till I got home, After all that I was very concerned my engine/ aluminum heads were going to be warped and toast , but they weren't ! I think my Water Pipe went or something i cant remember exactly but an average chain shop fixed it.

I am pretty sure the temp gauge got to H (100%) that first time when I had to pull over and noticed the overflow tank boiling over. After fixing that issue (water pipe) for a few weeks I will say i watched that temp gauge more than my tachometer. It hasn't budged higher than the normal level since. so OP if it has moved beyond that normal mid level, you can either focus into thermostats or ETCS, IIRC there are two thermostats or something. sorry its been so many years, def search around here due diligently you will find your answers, someone has been there

Child_uv_KoRn

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, witnessed it. Both of you are extremely lucky. I've only seen engines survive no coolant when it's cold. I could see em surviving boil overs if the boiling point was pretty low, so you're not really overheating it.